As the much-anticipated tunnel and five underpasses have been opened to the public, traffic jams at the ITO intersection, Pragati Maidan Metro station, Ring Road, and Mathura Road will be a thing of the past. The corridor, which is part of the ITPO-Pragati Maidan Redevelopment Project, has a 1.3-kilometer tunnel and six underpasses. Work on the project began in 2017 and was expected to be finished by the end of 2019. It did, however, miss a few deadlines.
The main goal of this project is to relieve traffic congestion around the Pragati Maidan Trade Centre by removing bottlenecks on Bhairon Marg, Ring Road, ITO-W point, and Mathura Road and making them signal-free. As a result, seamless connection will be available between East and Central Delhi, East and New Delhi, and Southeast and Central Delhi. It would also make commuting from Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Badarpur easier.
Heavy traffic was witnessed on Purana Qila and the Delhi Zoo Road due to back-to-back signals at the junctions of Sher Shah Road and the ITO W- junction. Furthermore, a huge number of cars travelling from the Yamuna river side of Ghaziabad, Noida, and East Delhi clogged Bhairon Marg, India Gate Circle, Mathura Road, and Ring Road.
Ring Road and India Gate are connected by the main tunnel, which runs through Pragati Maidan and Purana Qila Road. It also gives you access to the Pragati Maidan trade center’s massive subterranean parking lot. Two cross tunnels underneath the main tunnel have been built to assist traffic passage from either side of the parking lot, which is a unique feature of the tunnel.
It also has several entry and exit points: the main tunnel is accessible by three ramps on Mathura Road. A slip way has also been constructed on Ring Road to assist traffic between Ghaziabad and Noida, allowing commuters to access India Gate. For traffic arriving from ISBT Kashmere Gate, Rajghat, and loops at Sarai Kale Khan for traffic heading to Noida and Ghaziabad, a two-lane loop has been created.
The tunnel will also be used as an alternate route to Bhairon Marg, which is now overcrowded. It is intended to absorb around 70% of Bhairon Marg’s traffic.
There are six underpasses in total: four on Mathura Road, one on Bhairon Marg, and one at the Ring Road and Bhairon Marg intersection. Mathura Road is now signal-free, with four underpasses for u-turns located at Sher Shah Suri Road, Sunder Nagar, Pragati Maidan, and the Supreme Court.
The sixth underpass at the Bhairon Marg crossroads, a crucial segment, is still under construction. The section would give direct connectivity between Kashmere Gate ISBT and Sarai Kale Khan once it is completed. The intersection’s signal will also be eliminated.
